Lucentio the Loser

Lucentio serves a large role in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew". He is the secondary character to Bianca in the subplot of the story, making him probably the fourth most important character after Kate and Petruchio. Lucentio is a smart man who thinks he has fallen in love. However, even though it seems like Lucentio is a character of most noble intentions, unlike Petruchio who is pursuing Kate for fiscal reasons, he is ultimately chosen by Baptista over the other suitors simply because he is the wealthiest.

Lucentio serves a large part in the story, particularly in the beginning where Bianca's potential husbands have more focus than Kate's. Lucentio's disguise switch with Tranio represents a theme in this play, as it seems half the characters in the play are disguised at any given point. There is the induction disguise of Sly as a Lord, the disguise of Lucentio as Cambio, Tranio as Lucentio, Hortensio as Litio and the Merchant as Vincentio. The theme of disguise creates an interesting contrast, as three of the men trying to pursue Bianca are in disguise, and the only one trying to pursue Kate is not. This raises the question of how genuine the love is for Bianca, and questions the character of a man that must disguise himself to get Bianca. So it seems, despite Lucentio's nobler qualities, he still has to pretend to be someone else, and then is ultimately chosen solely for his wealth.

Lucentio as a whole serves to provide an idealized typical characterization of the charming suitor, or what seems to be a charming suitor before looking deeper. Ultimately, Lucentio's relationship with Bianca is turned on its head by the fact that Petruchio and Kate end up being the happier couple in the end. Lucentio serves as a sort of a foil, not by demonstrating negative qualities, but rather by setting up a idealized relationship with Bianca that can then be contrasted with Petruchio's relationship with Kate. Lucentio and Bianca represent the typical love story, which we, the audience, originally think we will witness. However, it turns out that the story of Petruchio and Kate is much more interesting, and that Lucentio’s idea of love is rather shallow.

Setting the Stage

Because Shakespeare had to work with a limited stage, and because of the ambiguity of his language there is often little stage direction to direct the actors as to how to interpret the script. However, he does give us a few clues. For example, in Act II, Scene 1, Gremio says, "Good morrow, neighbour Baptista.", which is Shakespearean for 'Good Morning' and indicates the time of the day. Also, at times we are given direct stage direction, such as in Act IV, Scene 4 after Kate says, "Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave " Shakespeare includes the direction "[Beats Him]." In some versions of the script similar direction is given for Kate and Petruchio when they kiss.

However, some subtler movements are left to more ambiguity, such as the intonation and delivery of lines. Many ambiguous lines come from conversations between Kate and Petruchio, as they are the most dynamic characters and are constantly undergoing a power struggle. Depending on how the lines are read by both Kate and Petruchio, there are varying levels of Kate's submissiveness, and thus varying levels of Petruchio’s dominance over her. One of the most infamous speeches of the play proves a good example of this. In Kate’s final speech of the play she says,

"…And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am asham'd that women are so simple…”

Yet despite the fact that it would seem Kate has fallen into total obedience, it’s hard to believe such a headstrong character could so easily transform into a submissive house wife. Ultimately, Shakespeare gives us no indication of whether or not the lines should be read sarcastically, or as if Kate had fallen into total submissivity.

In other Shakespeare productions stage management factors such as dead bodies can come in play. Sometimes segues are written into the script to remove the bodies. However, because The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy, there are no bodies and this is not an issue. The Taming of a Shrew has relatively straightforward stage direction, with most movements just being directed by enter and exit cues. The expository of some factors are interesting, such as the offstage weddings. Because the weddings take place offstage the characters are left to discuss the events so that the audience knows what happened.

Shakespeare generally leaves stage directions to a minimum, which results in individual directors being able to interpret the play in a manner of their choosing, and thus creating a piece of artwork that is unique to their vision. This allows more variations and interpretations of the play, which ultimately makes the viewing experience for the audience richer.

Eveline's Paralysis

Eveline is a typical girl that is contemplating the decision of whether to stay in her safe life that is the only one she has ever known, or to try and escape her past and run away with Frank. In keeping with the style of the Joycean Epiphany, Eveline has a sudden realization that she be happy and escape the pain of her past, only to be later brought back down to the mundane (the realization that she cannot leave). Eveline really wants to escape with Frank, but is stopped for many reasons. The first thing stopping her is that she does not actually love Frank, and the other is the realization that her past is all she has to define her character. Originally Eveline thinks Frank is the cure all to her painful and uninteresting life, but she realizes on the dock that she is who she is because of her hometown and because of her past. Moving to a new place won't change her, and if anything it will just further isolate her from any happiness of sense of place she has. Memories of the field, her mother, and her past, as well as obligations to her father and the need to keep a promise to her mother ultimately stop Eveline. Despite the fact that it is an incredibly difficult decision, Eveline's internal realization that she has too much invested in her home to ever leave it changes her originally eager run away from home into a frozen stance of paralysis.

Poor 'ol Gregor

In "The Metamorphasis", Franz Kafka creates a viewpoint that is close to a first person view from Gregor. By doing so, Kafka lets the audience sympathize and empathize with Gregor, and presents his alienation in such a light that lets the audience easily relate. By keeping the viewpoint consistently from Gregor, the audience empathizes with the attacks from Gregor's sister,
"...as it is, this creature persecutes us, drives away our lodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himself, and would have us all sleep in the gutter." After his sister attacks him, Gregor does not react angrily or bitterly, but instead takes reclusion into his room after expressing his good intent, "...Gregor had not the slightest intention of frightening anyone, far less his sister." Then, the audience is brought the possibility of the family heeding Gregor's pain, "His good intentions seemed to have been recognized; the alarm had only been momentary." However, our hopes are quickly shattered when, "Hardly was he well inside his room when the door was hastily bushed shut, bolted, and locked... It was his sister who had shown such haste." Kafka uses this series of expectations and disappointments to continually empathize the audience more for Gregor, and by doing so drags us further into his crippled condition. By helping us empathize with the condition of a bug in a manner that seems as natural as a human, Kafka allows the reader to reflect on the human condition, and the many ways in which we are alienated in our own existence. It is particularly effective that Kafka uses Gregor's sister Grete as the final word that that leads to Gregor's demise. It is also somewhat ironic that Gregor is the only one truly appreciating Grete's music, but the result is Grete's disgust at Gregor. It is this discrepancy or diversion from the relationship that a fan normally has with an artist that brings into question personal intentionality and the idea of determinism. Despite Gregor's best efforts to help his family, he ultimately is powerless and continually burdensome. As Kafka relates Gregor's experiences in an empathetic manner, the audience ultimately is drawn into sympathizing with alienation of a bug, and by doing so normalizes the extravagant which reinforces the normality of alienation.

Gregor's Hard Shell.

If Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" strikes anyone as something more than an entomological fantasy, then I congratulate him on having joined the ranks of good and great readers. In his story "The Metamorphosis," Kafka presents a conventional, respectable protagonist whose life is suddenly and permanently changed by a physical disability -- a "metamorphosis," or transformation -- which catapults him out of his efficacious complacency into a sudden confrontation with the greater questions of existence. As soon as Gregor opens his eyes, he finds himself positioned in an uncomfortable manner and transformed into a monstrous vermin or a gigantic insect, a worthless creature,

"One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found
himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on
his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could
see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff
sections."

With his hard armor-plated back lying on the bed. With this arresting opening, Kafka has set his mysterious psychological fantasy in motion. Now what exactly is the "vermin" into which poor Gregor, the seedy commercial traveler, is so suddenly transformed? It obviously belongs to the branch of "jointed leggers" (Arthropoda), to which insects, and spiders, and centipedes, and crustaceans belong. But surprisingly, Gregor’s bizarre new state is not the central transformation in the novel. Instead, Kafka uses Gregor’s surreal change as a catalyst for an almost more shocking metamorphosis: that of Gregor’s family, as they move from helplessness and sympathetic fear to emancipation and hostile rejection. In fact, it is Gregor who remains largely unchanged. He struggles to maintain his daily routine during most of the story, until his body finally forces him to surrender and accept that he is no longer fully human.

A Cheeseburger to feed Fortunado

Original:

Edgar Allan Poe makes good use of use of irony throughout "The Cast of Amontillado", and uses it in a way that contrasts the evilness of Montresor with normal socially accepted values. One particular passage where Poe utilizes all three forms of irony is in line 60, Montresor says

"You are not one of the masons."
"Yes, yes," I said, "yes. yes."
"You? Impossible! A mason?"
"A mason," I replied.
"A sign," he said.
"It is this" I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaure.

This passage makes use of dramatic irony in that the audience knows Montresor is planning to kill Fortunado and Fortunado is unaware. It also utilizes verbal irony with Montresor intentionally saying he is a mason, and not actually being a mason. And finally the passage makes use of situational irony in that the society of The Free Masons is normally a strong brotherhood, yet Montresor is about to kill Fortunado. Simultaneously utilizing three forms of irony is a brilliant feat, and Poe uses it to really relate the audience relate to the vindictive mindset of Montresor while also shaping the evilness of his character.

Changed:

Edgar Allan Poe employs several types of irony throughout "The Cast of Amontillado" as a vehicle to contrast the evilness of Montresor with the unawareness of Fortunado. In line 60 Poe utilizes all three forms of irony when Montresor says,

" 'You are not one of the masons.'
'Yes, yes,' I said, 'yes. yes.'
'You? Impossible! A mason?'
'A mason,' I replied.
'A sign,' he said.
'It is this' I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds of my roquelaure."

This passage makes use of dramatic irony because the audience is aware that Montresor is planning to kill Fortunado, yet Fortunado is unaware. It also utilizes verbal irony when Montresor intentionally says he is a mason, when in fact he is not. And finally the passage makes use of situational irony because the society of The Free Masons is normally a strong brotherhood, yet Montresor is about to kill Fortunado. Simultaneously utilizing three forms of irony is a brilliant feat, and Poe employs it well to help relate the audience to the vindictive mindset of Montresor while also shaping the evilness of his character.

I made the thesis sentence more concise, and changed every occurrence of 'uses' to 'employs'. Many sentences were shortened to be more direct, or reworded to be more exact, and less awkward. I changed the formatting on the quote, because I believe my previous formatting was incorrect. The concluding sentence was also reworded to have a better flow, and again to employ the word 'employs'.

Losing the good' in Goodman

Nataniel Hawthorne, in "Young Goodman Brown", presents a clearly allegorical tale, and theme of man's struggle with morality and sin, as Hawthorne is prone to do. The first allegorical reference comes when he has to leave his wife faith, which the audience can assume functions as a metaphor for Goodman losing his own faith. In the beginning of the story, Goodman tells his wife "my journey... needs to be done... What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married." Obviously, this presents Goodman's relationship to his faith, having been devoted for the last three years, but only now coming to question it. Also, Goodman says assuredly that he will return to his faith, when in reality he treats faith radically different after his transformation. The entire story deals with Goodman's faith as a metaphor for puritan values. First he leaves his faith, then he loses his faith, and then he calls out to his faith to resist the temptation of the devil.

The devil is created through an old man with a snake, and is constantly trying to tempt Goodman, in keeping with the allegorical reference to the snake. He points out the wrong doings of others, and their hypocrisy to try and gain support to convert Goodman. In the end, despite the fact that it is unclear as to whether or not Goodman fully committed himself to the devil, he is clearly not happy after his trip. This brings up the message of the story. Hawthorne likes to write about Puritan themes, and having grown up in Salem with a ancestor that was part of the Witch Trials, it is no surprise. I believe the message Hawthorne was trying to send is that one can live their lives in blissful ignorance, but once you learn the truth about others and their wrongdoings, it is very difficult to maintain that level of faith. Perhaps he is also exposing some hypocrisy in puritan ideals. This would definitely support the second camp which believes Goodman was initiated into reality.

I definitely see how Brown falls into delusion, but I'm not necessarily sure if delusion and being initiated into reality are mutually exclusive, and in the story, I think Goodman becomes delusioned through his realization of reality.